St. Louis City's Backline: A Broken Carousel Ride, And How To Fix It

Since 2023, 36 players have started on the backline for St. Louis, 15 different people this season alone. There has been no sense of stability anywhere, but especially among Defenders.

The short-lived tenure of Olof Mellberg as St. Louis City SC Head Coach had one positive: Defense. Under Mellberg, in 15 games, City's xG Against was 17.4, which was well above average. 9 different players headlined Mellberg's backline, the most used being Kyle Hiebert, Henry Kessler, and Jannes Horn. Here's where those players are today.

• Kyle Hiebert - Has started in 2 matches since Late May

• Henry Kessler - Injured

• Jannes Horn - Left the team

  The Mellberg era players have not consistently made an impact with the squad since his firing. The Carousel Continued to Circulate.

Recent moves have shown some promise towards a stable future for City's Defense.

• Jaziel Orozco signed to the first team through '28.

• Fallou Fall signed with a record-breaking 3.5 million dollar transfer fee.

• Devin Padelford acquired via trade with Minnesota United.

The only problem with the recent signings is that there may be a log jam that will prevent young players from getting valuable minutes. The number of defenders who can minutes continues to climb. With the Signing of Fallou Fall, where does Timo Baumgartl fit when Henry Kessler returns from injury, or with the signing of Devin Padelford, where does Jaziel Orozco fit? Jaziel's main position is CB, but moving him there adds to the Baumgartl predicament. I haven't even mentioned Josh Yaro, Joakim Nillson, Jayden Reid, Tomas Totland, or Michael Wentzel. It will be interesting come winter time to see what Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel does, as 19 players have club options to sign. If those options are denied, the player becomes a free agent. The real question is, will the carousel finally come to a halt?